I Needed this Thrifting Love…

A few days ago I had the usual errands to run plus dropping off a load of items to donate to the thrift store. Some were things I had bought to resell and realized, for one reason or another, they weren’t worth trying to sell online. Others were low-value things I’d had listed for years and they just weren’t selling. It’s frustrating, but it happens to everyone in the biz. (Mistakes were made.) And frankly I was ready to be free of them. Adios. Ciao. Au revoir. (And hello tax write off.)

So I dropped off the donations and headed in to do some shopping. As usual, it got stupidly busy fast. But it turned out to be a banner buying trip—four items! I know for some that is a laughably small amount. Ridiculous. But for me, especially at this tiny store, it’s darn good and I was pleased with every item.

Here’s what I bought…

A piece of Royal Copenhagen. Gosh I love this brand and so do other people! This little porcelain rice bowl is in their Aluminia faience line designed by Inge-Lise Koefoed. What a great look.

If you’ve read this blog for a bit you’ll know I’m a big fan of pottery and I thought this small bud vase had an intriguing shape and glaze. Boom…it was a Heath (Sausalito, CA) ceramics piece designed in the 1980s by Edith Head! [It sold in a day.]

Italian Deruta pottery pieces are desirable, but I’ve had mixed results selling them. Still I thought this majolica round bird box was fun. It’s bigger than the usual trinket box at 7″ diameter but has a great graphic appeal.

Artisan glass is always a fav of mine and this small glass bud vase was both heavy and so lovely. I didn’t find a maker’s mark in the store but back at home I found a signature etched on the side. Yeah! Can’t make it out but it looks like it’s four words with the first name starting with “M”. Well, that narrows it down! This is going to take a while to figure out!!

Total paid for four items: $18.06

But here’s why I really needed a good thrifting day

August has been a full moon/bring-on-the-crazy month. In the words of poet Dorothy Parker “What fresh hell is this?”

Here’s the story…

I allow returns and cancellations but in the course of a year I receive very few–typically four the whole year out of 300+ sales! But this month, this August, I had two cancellations (totaling over $300), one refund, a pending refund (the item was bigger than she thought though I gave the measurements in the listing) and a threat of sorts (“I wanted to reach out to you before I left a review.”) The threat came after the woman polished a silver item she’d bought from me, didn’t like how it turned out and thought maybe I had misrepresented it. I told her she could return it and I would refund her less shipping costs, but it’s been two weeks and I haven’t received the item or any new message or a review.

Jeez Louise.

Hands-down this has been the craziest month in 12 years of selling on Etsy. I feel worn out by it. Seriously. It makes me wonder when I hear the cha-ching on my phone, is this sale actually going to work out? Did they reading the listing? Look at all the photos? Is this the “new normal”?? I hope not.

Well, I’ll close for now ’cause I’m worn out, wishing you happy hunting,

Karen